Partners
by Matsuda'sDreams
Summary: 15 years is a long time to be a cop. Any situation can turn deadly in the blink of an eye.


"NYPD! Don't move!" Judy shouted.

"All right, drop the gun, hands behind your head and get down on the ground!" Robert added, as the man with the gun froze, knowing he was cornered with nowhere to go. The two experienced looking cops in front of him had their weapons trained on him. He was just a noobie robber. This was his second time robbing a convenience store. He got a high from the first one, so he figured he'd give it another shot. His buddy that talked him in to doing both robberies had driven away and left him stranded. Some friend. Now he was abandoned, cornered, and scared.

And holding a loaded gun.

And that's the thing about people who are abandoned, cornered, and scared. They don't think. They act. The try anything, because something is better than nothing. Something is better than giving up.

Especially when you're a criminal.

The man slowly raised his hands, like he was going to give up without a fight, but halfway up he swung the gun forward and pulled the trigger. At the same time, Judy and Robert both let off a few rounds of their own. This is when all those hours of target practice come in handy.

The man fell instantly.

And so did Robert.

The gunman's lone bullet had hit it's mark. Right into Robert's chest. He had aimed for the tall, stronger looking, male cop after all.

"Robert!" Judy called out. She ran over to take the gun away from the body of the man, in case he was still alive, and ran back over to her partner.

"Robert! Robert!... Sergeant!" She thought she saw him move. A million things and nothing were running through her head all at one time. Training can tell you what to do in this kind of situation, but you hope you never have to use it. She radioed for medical and tried to turn Robert over, who was on his stomach.

He came to a little in her arms. "Come on, partner! Stay with me now!" She said as she put her hands over the wound trying to apply pressure and remember what she was taught. It was more like his upper abdomen than his chest, and slightly to the right of center. Her hands were instantly enveloped in his blood. It was gushing out faster than she could stop it, but she tried. And prayed a little too. But mostly, she was focused on Robert.

He had his eyes open, but how much he actually saw was a mystery to Judy. They looked like he was staring off into the distance. "Judy..."

Judy was elated that he said something, that he was still conscious, still breathing.

Still had a chance.

"Robert! Thank God! Okay, hold on! They're almost here!" Judy yelled, her voice as shaky as her hands.

"Judy... Thank you..." he uttered weakly as he mustered the last strength that he could to put his hand on hers.

She looked away from the wound, and looked Robert in the eye. There wasn't anything she could say that wasn't already said in that look.

It was a heartbreaking moment. A tender, wonderful, sad, beautiful, and heartbreaking moment between partners that can only be understood between people who count on each other in life or death situations.

And that moment was when Judy started to cry, because she knew. She didn't want it to be, but she just knew that it was.

Goodbye.

It was like a movie. Robert closed his eyes, his hand falling from her blood-soaked ones, a puddle of the dark crimson pooling underneath him, Judy crying over him. And that was that. Robert was gone before the paramedics had even arrived.

* * *

A/N: So I've been watching a lot of "Everybody Loves Raymond" lately and I haven't gotten very far, but I love that Robert is a cop. And after I saw the episode "The Ride Along" it got me thinking more about his job and all the stuff he probably has to do that can turn bad in a heartbeat. His family acts like it's nothing for him to go out there and do that everyday, and (as far as I know) he never talks about it with them.(I mean I know it's a family/comedy show, but still... he's been doing it for about 15 years. That's a long time to be a cop...) So it got me thinking, and this was the result. And because Judy, being the only person that seems to take him seriously, is always out there with him and watches his back. I really love those two (not as a couple, but as partners who care for and rely on each other). :)


End file.
